Fed Not Ready to Tighten Policy—Yet

The Federal Reserve is developing a strategy to gradually wind down an $85 billion monthly bond-buying program, a centerpiece of its easy-money policies, though it won't execute the plan until the economy gets onto more solid footing.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a news conference Wednesday following a two-day policy meeting, said the central bank would vary the amount of its monthly bond purchases depending on how the economy is...